As The Green Club, we aspire to impact our community, nation, and world, by educating, inspiring, and involving people. Our aim is to help people become more efficient and to help bring balance to their inner and outer environments in order to help them into a greener future.
INTRODUCING THE GREEN CLUB 
A group of Greensburg High School students came together to officially form THE GREEN CLUB. Working in concert with Greensburg GreenTown, the group began meeting in the fall of 2007, and in early 2008 GreenTown staff helped them establish a vision statement and formulate their initial goals. They have an ambitious agenda, accompanied by boundless enthusiasm and creative energy.
The Club has a vision of educating and inspiring people of all ages to learn about what "green" means. They intend for their message about conserving resources and living a green lifestyle to have a ripple effect, both within their community and out in the world.
The group got started with their first community-oriented green activity in January 2008 when they picked up residents' Christmas trees for recycling. Over fifty trees were saved from going to the dump, and will be turned into nourishing mulch for Greensburg's trees and plants. In February of that year they pinpointed three priorities they would focus on for the remainder of the school year: recycling, providing compact fluorescent light bulbs to residents, and community education.
In its first year The Green Club members were very active with the following activities: recycling at Greensburg High School; inspiring and educating people both locally and throughout the country; attending USGBC's national GreenBuild conference in Chicago; selling compact fluorescent light bulbs; helping Kansas State University architecture students with the Greensburg Cubed project and much more.
During the 2008-09 school year the students decided they wanted to design and create something functional to give to the community. They landed on the idea of building a bench out of found objects from the area. With the guidance of volunteer and artist extraordinaire Dustin Sypher, a beautiful bench was constructed. It contains reclaimed metal pieces and wood that was salvaged from trees damaged in the tornado.
The bench makes its home on the lawn of the 5.4.7 Arts Center.
During the 2009-10 school year, The Green Club has continued to be active in school and community recycling projects, in educating and inspiring visitors about the Green Initiative, in visiting other schools to share experiences, and speaking with reporters about their take on the community's progress.
In the second semester they have focused on a local initiative to encourage residents to choose reusable shopping bags over plastic or paper bags. They have done a lot of research on this issue and are educating folks about the hidden costs associated with the throwaway bags; they are creating signage to be placed in local stores. The local KwikShop/Dillons grocery store has helped by letting Club members survey shoppers’ bag choices and distribute reusable bags to the store’s patrons. The Club wants the reduction of plastic bag usage to be part of their legacy, as many of them will be going away college next fall.
On April 28, 2009, The Green Club presented their bench to City Administrator Steve Hewitt. L-R: Hewitt, Club advisors Catherine Hart and John Wickland, Kendall, Maci, Charlotte, Alexsis, Levi, Taylor, Tim, Charlsea. (Not pictured: Nathan)
